Several days later.
No one knew exactly how far they had traveled, but the surrounding terrain remained unchanged, it is still flat, open plains.
And throughout this journey, they hadn't encountered a single living creature.
This abnormal phenomenon made everyone gradually uneasy.
When something is abnormal, there must be something wrong.
This plain is not a wasteland, so under normal circumstances, there should at least be insects.
It's just that the Guide hadn't issued any warnings…
Despite this, everyone in the team remained highly vigilant at all times.
After all, over this period of time, they had a rough understanding of the Guide's warning mechanism.
Under normal circumstances, if something didn't pose a substantial threat to the Guide, the Guide's warning ability wouldn't activate.
In essence, the Guide was a Nen Beast conjured by the Gatekeeper, but it gave off the impression of artificial intelligence.
The team maintained formation as they traversed the plain.
Suddenly-
A crisp, pleasant sound of wind chimes reached everyone's ears.
The sound of the wind chimes came suddenly, as if it sounded out of nowhere in their ears, and it carried a light, rhythmic quality that was soothing to hear.
"Cover your ears!"
Yet, when staying in the Dark Continent, no one would ever let their guard down to appreciate an inexplicable chime. At Moses's warning, everyone immediately blocked their ears.
Even without Moses's reminder, they would have reacted just as swiftly.
Again, the same words-
This is the Dark Continent.
When faced with any strange phenomenon that suddenly emerge, one must responded and take measures as quickly as possible.
Otherwise, death could come at any moment.
With their ears covered, the strange wind chimes were silenced.
"I couldn't tell where the sound was coming from."
Moses turned and looked at Ging with a questioning look in his eyes.
Ging understood what Moses said through his lip movements and shook his head in response.
He hadn't been able to discern the source of the wind chimes either. It was as if the sound had no origin, but it had echoed right beside their ears.
Just as everyone was observing cautiously, they suddenly noticed green sprouts breaking through the soil around them.
One, two, three-
More and more green sprouts broke emerged from the ground. In just a few seconds, the previously sparse greenery had transformed into a dense carpet of tiny green shoots.
Only the area where Moses and the others stood remained unchanged.
"This is…"
Everyone was shocked when they saw the countless green sprouts that suddenly grew out.
But before they could investigate further, they saw that the green sprouts began growing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Hmm?"
Under the group's wary and astonished gazes, the countless sprouts that had broken through the soil completed their seedling stage in just about a minute.
Then, entering a vigorous growth phase, they formed plump flower buds in just ten seconds.
Immediately after-
The densely packed buds bloomed before their eyes, transforming the area into a vibrant sea of flowers, each competing in brilliance.
Though breathtakingly beautiful, this scene filled the group with a strong sense of crisis.
'What kind of ability is this…?'
'Was it caused by that chime earlier?'
The sudden emergence of the flower sea made them immediately think of the inexplicable wind chimes just now.
Moreover, in a way, the flower sea had trapped them.
At least until they understood the situation, they wouldn't recklessly step into the flower sea, let alone attempt to cross it to leave the plain.
"Huh?"
Kanzai, who was standing at the edge of the group, suddenly exclaimed in surprise and frowned, "Am I imagining things? I feel like my Manifested Aura has suddenly gotten a lot stronger."
"It's not your imagination, I feel the same way."
A hint of doubt flashed across Cheadle's eyes.
Like Kanzai, she also felt the change in her Manifested Aura, which was slowly increasing.
Others in the group soon noticed the same phenomenon.
Their Manifested Aura was originally only 100 points, but for some reason, it is slowly increasing towards 101 points, 102 points…
This means that-
Without doing anything, they were experiencing gains that might otherwise take years of training to achieve.
However, this sudden 'benefit' didn't bring them joy.
Such a phenomenon was likely the precursor to a Calamity, one that first gives you a taste of sweetness before striking.
For example, among the known Five Great Calamities, Brion first grants hope and happiness to the victims before completely erasing their existence from the world.
Even if the phenomenon that causes them to suddenly become stronger is possibly a pure Hope, it was almost certainly accompanied by a deadly, unknown Calamity.
The chime sound of unknown origin caused the sea of flowers to cover the land in less than two minutes.
And the phenomenon of their Manifested Aura becoming stronger without any warning.
There was simply no pattern to follow.
Just when everyone was hesitating, the surrounding sea of flowers changed again.
The vibrant reds, bright yellows, deep purples, lush greens, and azure blues of the flowers all vanished within seconds.
It wasn't that the flowers withered and died, but that they simply disappeared, leaving only a blanket of green behind.
And as this phenomenon happened, everyone saw the fleeting fluctuations of Nen that were like flowing light.
"It's Nen…"
In that instant, they realized that the source of these phenomena was Nen Ability, and their hearts were filled with vigilance.
But they still did not act rashly and always maintained their Ken at peak condition.
Meanwhile, the inexplicably increasing Manifested Aura sent faint ripples across their rock-solid defenses.
It was all too bizarre -
Not only was their Manifested Aura steadily rising, but the changes in the flower sea also showed no immediate signs of posing a real threat.
Moses frequently glanced at the Guide, who was standing motionless in the team formation.
There was no warning, nor any panic reaction.
That is to say, whatever was happening wasn't a threat to this Nen Beast conjured by the Gatekeeper.
"Morel, send in the smoke soldiers to scout."
Moses finally abandoned the wait-and-see approach.
Based on the Guide's reaction, he deduced that these phenomena likely wouldn't harm conjured Nen Beasts.
He had considered sending Rat Jewel to test the path, but to be safe, he opted for Morel's smoke soldiers instead.
At times like this-
Moses couldn't help but think of his lost Shadow Clone Ability.
If he still had it, the shadow clone's ultra-high precision would have been invaluable in this situation.
Upon hearing Moses's order, Morel immediately dispatched smoke soldiers into the sea of green.
The next second-
many smoke soldiers vanished into thin air, as if they had fallen into another dimension.
When everyone saw this scene, their expressions darkened.